McDonnell to announce Bolling, Sledd to head economic team

The move is not surprising considering McDonnell and Bolling, both Republicans, ran as a team during the campaign, and McDonnell vowed to make Bolling his administration's jobs leader if they won, though he never exlained what form that would take. Now we hear that Bolling's job will come with a new title, duties and office.

McDonnell also will announce that respected businessman Robert Sledd will serve as Secretary of Commerce and Trade, Republican sources say. Sledd, of Richmond, was formerly a top-ranking executive with Peformance Food Group, a food distribution company. (He has donated more than $100,000 to Virginia politicians in the last dozen years, including McDonnell, Bolling, other Republicans and a handful of Democrats, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, which tracks money in politics.)

McDonnell, who has scheduled an 11 a.m. press conference on Capitol Square tomorrow, will also announce that longtime aide Janet Polarek, who served as his campaign manager in 2005, will become Secretary of the Commonwealth -- a decision that has been widely expected for weeks.

Polarek was chief operations officer in McDonnell's gubernatorial campaign and is serving as deputy director of personnel and administration during the transition. The main function of the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office is to help the governor appoint more than 4,000 Virginians to serve on boards and commissions.

jckdoors -- Bolling will serve in these new capacities without additional compensation. Basically, McDonnell is putting the largely ceremonial post of LG to good use, so it is advancing smaller, limited government.